F1 | Mekies: “We have an extraordinary basis to aim high”

After closing the AlphaTauri chapter, the Racing Bulls era began today with the launch of the new car online and a team presentation ceremony in Las Vegas, in style as for the most important occasions. Leading this project will be two new figures, namely Peter Bayer, who had already assumed the role of CEO of the company last year, and Laurent Mekies, who became Team Principal after his experience at Ferrari.

For the French engineer it is the opportunity to build something new, although the link with the past continues to be alive. Behind the scenes, however, there are many changes taking place, such as for the management of the structures and the increasingly close relationship with Red Bull, which are added to the arrival of new staff to continue to grow and become increasingly competitive.

Even though it is a new project, with various elements still to be fitted together in the best possible way, the team's top management and drivers had no hesitations about pushing the accelerator, indicating rather ambitious objectives for the next few years, including constantly aiming for a among the top five. A bold target, but one that demonstrates the enthusiasm around this challenge, so much so that Daniel Ricciardo went out of his way to claim that he was ready to enter the fight to conquer some podiums.

An enthusiasm also conveyed by Mekies himself, who analyzed how behind the scenes the team is working hard to evolve and fight for increasingly important goals. “How many times does it happen that we face a project that is practically the creation of a new team. This is the spirit that can be felt in Faenza at the moment. We are building a new team on an extraordinary basis”, the Racing Bulls Team Principal told the Formula 1 website on the sidelines of the presentation of the new color scheme of the team.

The transformation process, however, does not only pass through the new identity, but also through what is happening on a technical and organizational level. Although it wants to establish itself as a new project, in a certain sense Racing Bulls has made a leap into the past, because from this year the partnership with the parent company will be further strengthened, which will provide even more elements than in previous championships.

For example, the front suspension is clearly derived from Red Bull: it is not just a question of switching to the pull rod, but the advantage also lies in having adopted the same elements, such as rocker arms and springs, used by the world champion team . However, this is a challenge that should not be underestimated, because redesigning the front suspension requires a large investment in reviewing flow management.

As regards the use of Red Bull parts, Mekies declared that they will naturally use as many elements of the parent company as permitted by the regulation, approaching the maximum allowed, even if some small details will remain entirely produced both for practicality and need .

Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB 01

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“We're in a situation where we have an owner of two teams and naturally we're asked, 'What can we share?' We should share. We are reviewing the regulations and sharing what we can. But on the other hand, we are pushing as hard as we can to prepare ourselves to fight for bigger prizes.”

The strengthening of the synergy with Red Bull can also be felt on the organizational front, because, as explained last month, Racing Bulls will gradually leave the Bicester structures to move closer to those of Milton Keynes. Currently the former AlphaTauri also has an office in Faenza, but the strategic objective in the medium term is to increase its presence in the United Kingdom, where it is easier to attract engineers and exploit the link with the reigning world champion team.

“For a long time we had two offices: Faenza and Bicester. The Bicester departments will move to the new facilities in Milton Keynes,” explained Mekies, underlining how the aerodynamic engineers now based in Bicester will be incorporated into the facilities in Milton Keynes, a bit like what happens between Ferrari and Haas, which share structures, albeit in separate environments, in Maranello.

“Historically, having two headquarters has always been a disadvantage. But it's 2024, the world has changed dramatically. The way people interact is also changing. We want to make things work. We want to make our company a company without locations. If tomorrow a department is split between Faenza and Milton Keynes, we think that's fine. It's a challenge, but we think it brings with it a lot of benefits: we can hire the best people in the UK and we can hire the best people in Europe.”

VCARB 01

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

However, Mekies is well aware that this transformation process, even on a technical level, comes with several challenges to face. In the past season AlphaTauri was divided on two fronts, working both on the 2024 single-seater and continuing to update the 2023 car until the end to try to move up the rankings. Although some of the innovations brought to Abu Dhabi were also useful for understanding important aspects in the development of the new car and exploring possible solutions, acting as a bridge between the two cars, other aspects will need to be explored and studied to extract the most not only from the package technical, but also by the team.

“We developed the car until the last part of the year, so the starting point [della vettura di quest’anno] it's not much different from what you saw in Abu Dhabi last year,” he said when asked what to expect when this year's car hits the track.

“Along with all the profound changes we are making, we will try to find our new path and pace of development, which we hope will take us to a better place. But we are aware that the initial phase of the season will probably be quite tough, given how we pushed at the end of last year and how profound are the changes we made this winter.”

“It is natural that this will push the correct development towards the end of the season. It is a conscious choice that we have made, even if in the short term it could be harmful. We are trying to build a new project and build it for the long term.”